There are few personal data appliances that are easy for the average user to interact with on more than one or two applications. Using a cellular telephone as an example, one finds that dialing a number is generally the only direct process that a user can invoke from the initial keypresses. Other functions available on cell phones, such as taking a photograph or sending a text message, require more than one keypress.
Access to applications or programs that are available to the user—such as the encoding of a text message or the operation of a camera or a calendar—normally requires the user to navigate to this function. This process generally relies upon a menu structure whereby each menu item offers some subsequent choice until a final choice is revealed. For example, in a typical cell phone dialer application, in order to use the user-phone book, a user must: (i) select the phone-book-function, (ii) decide whether to ‘find and call’ or to edit a number, (iii) locate the entry to be used, and (iv) invoke the telephony-function.
Such navigation can be accomplished by discreet button presses that move a cursor to a desired choice, followed by a keypress to select the function. The desired choice may be provided as an icon provided on a display screen. In order to ease the burden on the user, when a large display screen is available it is common to find some of the function icons provided on the display when the phone is in a resting state. In these situations, the user may select a function using a touch screen or dial a number directly from the keypad.
In some appliances, voice commands may be used to navigate to a desired function. However, such systems tend to be inconvenient and unreliable, particularly when the appliance is used in an environment having a high level of ambient noise or where the user must read from the display to continue with the command sequence. Moreover, the use of voice commands demands significant computing capability, which may impact the cost, size, or speed of the appliance.
It is desirable for appliances to operate in a manner that is intuitive to the user. That goal is difficult to achieve. One reason appliances often fail to behave in a manner intuitive to the user is that the functions available on an appliance are rarely similar. For example, the function used to take and store a photograph is different from the function used to create a text message and attach an image to the text message before sending the message.
Those people familiar with sophisticated appliances may rapidly assimilate the operational sequences necessary to use functions offered by an appliance. However, most people become discouraged when their first attempt fails to provide them access to a desired function. When users are unable to access and use such functions, users develop distrust and they will often not attempt the task again. So functions provided by an appliance frequently are not used, and the appliance is perceived as being encumbered with redundant features. Moreover, service providers do not reap the benefits that accrue from the use of functions.
Some appliance designs attempt to lead a user interactively using either a question-and-answer technique or a suggestion-and-approval technique. Both demand the user's attention to process the correct response. For example, after a telephone call has been completed some appliances compare the called number to numbers in the user phone book. If the called number is not found, the appliance will ask the user if they wish to store the number. The user selects an affirmative or negative action and the process continues from there. However, existing interactive methods are local to a function, that is to say that such methods are invoked once the user has identified a function.